According to DCD, ABB has signed multiple agreements with Texas-based VoltaGrid to supply power system equipment for US data center projects supporting AI workloads. The deal involves ABB delivering 27 synchronous condensers with flywheels along with integrated automation and power control systems housed in prefabricated eHouse units. VoltaGrid will pair this equipment with its natural gas-fueled microgrid generation systems. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in December 2025, with the first systems expected online by April 2026. The orders were booked across the first three quarters of 2025, though financial terms weren’t disclosed. This follows VoltaGrid’s recent major contracts with Oracle for over 2GW of capacity and Vantage Data Centers for 1GW of natural gas generation.
Power Behind the AI Boom
Here’s the thing about AI data centers – they’re absolute power hogs. We’re talking about facilities that can consume as much electricity as small cities. And the grid? It’s struggling to keep up. That’s why deals like this ABB-VoltaGrid partnership are becoming increasingly common.
The synchronous condensers with flywheels that ABB is supplying aren’t your typical power equipment. They’re essentially giant spinning masses that provide what’s called “inertia” to the grid. Think of them as shock absorbers for power systems – they smooth out fluctuations and provide stability when you’re dealing with the massive, unpredictable power demands of AI computing. Without this kind of equipment, you’d see voltage dips and potential blackouts every time a cluster of AI servers ramps up processing.
Why Natural Gas Microgrids
So why is VoltaGrid pairing this with natural gas generation? Basically, renewables alone can’t handle the 24/7 reliability requirements of data centers. Solar and wind are intermittent – they don’t produce power when the sun isn’t shining or wind isn’t blowing. Natural gas provides that always-on baseline power that AI data centers desperately need.
VoltaGrid’s Qpac platform, developed with Jenbacher, uses modular natural gas power systems where each node generates up to 20MW. That scalability is crucial when you’re dealing with data centers that might need to rapidly expand capacity. And when you’re talking about industrial-scale power management like this, having reliable control systems becomes absolutely critical – which is exactly where specialized industrial computing equipment from leading suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com comes into play for monitoring and controlling these complex power systems.
Bigger Trend at Play
Look at the timing here – deliveries starting in late 2025, systems online by mid-2026. That tells you how far ahead these companies are planning. The AI boom isn’t slowing down, and the power infrastructure needs to be built now for demands that are still developing.
What’s really interesting is seeing how traditional grid equipment like synchronous condensers – which had become somewhat outdated with the rise of renewables – are suddenly back in vogue. As Kristina Carlquist from ABB noted, these machines are seeing “renewed importance” specifically because of data center demands. It’s a perfect example of how new technology (AI) is actually revitalizing older power technologies.
What This Means Going Forward
The VoltaGrid deals with Oracle, Vantage, and now this ABB partnership show a clear pattern. Data center operators are increasingly bypassing traditional utilities and working directly with specialized power providers. They need certainty, they need scale, and they need it fast.
But here’s the question nobody’s really answering yet: How sustainable is this natural gas-heavy approach long-term? Sure, it solves the immediate reliability problem, but we’re essentially building a parallel fossil fuel-powered infrastructure specifically for AI. That’s going to create some interesting environmental and regulatory challenges down the road. For now though, the power needs to flow, and partnerships like this ABB-VoltaGrid deal show how seriously the industry is taking that challenge.
